The Barfly gay bar guide noted simply, “Same type crowd as at If Café,” which was across the street. The clientele of both bars was Black, white, and Latina, demonstrating that queer life in Los Angeles did not exist only in white and affluent areas but was also embedded in working-class communities of color. Women at these clubs developed a strong, oppositional community, with their own styles and slang; for example, butch Black women termed themselves “hard dressers.” A People's Guide to Los Angeles, Pulido p.46

The femmes were dressed in capri pants and off-the-shoulder blouses; the butches wore button-down shirts over white Ts, their hair in Jimmy Dean-style ducktail coifs. The owners, who sometimes tended the bar, were a refugee couple, white haired and with Yiddish accents. Open Door regulars called them “mom” and “pop.” Lillian Faderman

Featured space in Lillian Faderman's Curator Map.